The present invention generally relates to railroad control systems and more particularly relates to braking systems for railcars, and even more particularly relates to electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) railcar brake systems.
In the past, railcar brake systems have utilized a pneumatic brake system in which pneumatic brake control signals are sent along an air pipe extending the length of the train. While this system has been used extensively for many years, it has several drawbacks, including those arising out of delayed brake application at the rear of the train owing to the slow propagation of the pneumatic control signals through the air pipe. With the advent of electronically controlled pneumatic braking systems, very fast electrical signals can be used to activate all of the brakes on all of the cars simultaneously. This has the beneficial capability of reducing train stopping distances. However, the ECP brake systems continue to exhibit some of the problems from the early completely pneumatically controlled systems. For example, differences in braking performance from railcar to railcar can cause changes in the slack between railcars and thereby create a potential for damage to the train, its cargo and the track especially when there are rapid changes in the slack between each railcar.
Consequently, there exists a need for improved electronic-controlled pneumatic brake systems for railcars which tend to reduce the potential for damage to a train, its cargo and the track when railcars impart potentially destructive forces on adjacent railcars.